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Ina (1988)
Chaya Czernowin:
"The idea of the composite instrument can be traced back to the works I wrote for prerecorded and live soloists beginning around 1988. In Ina and other pieces of this time, a singular instrument is unbraided into disparate voices. At the time, this suggested an exploration into the drama of the singular persona (and thus the singular performer) confronted with the many divergent voices within. Ina unequivocally retains a certain narrative and dramatic conception in its play between the soloist and his or her internal environment."
Chaya Czernowin (b. 1957) explores ideas of fragmentation and identity through what she calls "changing lenses": "looking into the different grains of a singular voice ... taking different, often contrasting instruments, and molding them into one composite instrument." (Czernowin) Her output includes several operas on political themes and many chamber and orchestral works of a more abstract nature.
Czernowin was born in Haifa, Israel and initially studied at the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. She continued her studies with Dieter Schnebel in Berlin, Germany; Joan Tower and Eli Yarden at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; and Brian Ferneyhough and Roger Reynolds at the University of California, San Diego, where she also taught for several years. Other teaching posts include the Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany and Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Austria. Since 2003 Czernowin has directed the Summer Academy at Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, and in 2009 she joined the faculty of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Czernowin's music has been performed at over 50 festivals worldwide by ensembles including the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Munich Philharmonic, Nieuw Ensemble, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Her opera Pnima...ins Innere (1998-1999) was premiered at the 2000 Munich Biennale and received the Bayerische Theaterpreis that year. In 2005-2006 Czernowin was resident composer of the Salzburg Festival, where she was commissioned to compose a response to Mozart's unfinished opera Zaïde (1779), resulting in the work Adama (2004-2005).
Recordings of Czernowin's work can be found on the col legno, Deutsche Grammophon, Einstein, and mode labels.
related websites
http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/featured/38323/
Flutist and composer John Fonville is dedicated to extending the musical language and technique of the flute. Toward that end he has commissioned and performed a wide variety of music by composers Hiroyuki Itoh, Ben Johnston, Paul Koonce, Salvatore Martirano, Roger Reynolds, Joji Yuasa, and many others. Fonville was instrumental in the development of quarter-tone flutes, and performs on a complete set from bass flute to piccolo. He is a member of the Eolus Quintet, Tone Road Ramblers, and SONOR, the resident contemporary music ensemble at the University of California at San Diego, where he is also chairman of the music department. Fonville's music and performances can be heard on the Advance, CRI, Einstein, mode, Neuma, New World, oodiscs, Opus One, Orion, and TR2 labels.
related websites
http://music.ucsd.edu/bio.php?fn=John+Fonville
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